You can start working with ConstructConnect Takeoff as soon as you get logged in, although it is best if you take a few minutes to learn how the program works and where to locate and how to use various tools within the program.
Investing a little time now can help you get the most out of the software and save you countless hours down the road.
The Very Basics
If you are accessing a Contractor Platform project, it is ready and waiting for you to start your measuring. Before you dive in,we encourage you to get to know the software by reading this introductory Chapter to become familiar with the screens you see and the tools available.
If you need to create a Project from a set of plans you downloaded or received from some other service, you create a project (and bid), then add a Plan Set. We cover "Creating Projects" in detail in Chapter 2, but again, we encourage you to become familiar with the program a bit before you forge again.
Once you have created or download a Project and a Bid, you create a Conditions and then draw your takeoff (measurements) and annotations (plan markups). Conditions are our term for what you are measuring, for example, walls, floors, ceilings, widgets, whatever you need to account for on your construction plans. Drawing takeoff is the process of using those Conditions to measure the building objects they represent on your plans.
As your project progresses, the Architect or General Contractor often publishes revisions (updates, issues, whatever you call them). ConstructConnect Takeoff helps you sort and organize all the plans and revisions sets you receive. You can compare them in ConstructConnect Takeoff using Overlays.
Of course...when you are done measuring, you probably need to doing something with all the measurements and data you create. The program provides tools to help you analyze, price, and even export your results.
We cover the absolute basics of the program (the user interface) in this chapter: how it looks and how to find your way around. We go into detail in later chapters, we just want you to get familiar enough with the program, right now, so you are not lost and frustrated. It may be tempting to skip over this chapter because you are busy and you need to get started doing your takeoff. We get that! But, we find that users who spend the 20-30 minutes reading this through this chapter and skimming the rest of the User Guide spend hours less wondering "What does this do?" or "Where do I find that?".
This chapter is a quick read and can really improve your experience with ConstructConnect Takeoff.
There are four main screens in the program:
Projects and Bids List
The Projects and Bids List is a list of all projects, and the bids within those projects, to which you have access. From the Projects and Bids List, you can access a project's or bid's Cover Sheet to change the details, adjust access/roles, and add or modify Plan Sets.
The Projects and Bids List is the "Main Screen" for the program and the one that opens when you launch ConstructConnect Takeoff.
Takeoff Tab
The Takeoff Tab is where you see the Plans (drawings, images, blueprints) in your project. This is where you draw takeoff and annotations, and where you setup Conditions, Typical Groups, Layers, all everything used to measure and markup your plans. Most of your time is spent on the Takeoff Tab if you are performing takeoff and a bulk of this User Guide is dedicated to helping you understand this screen.
Summary Tab
The Summary Tab provides a pivot table-type recap of the Results of all the takeoff in a bid. From the Summary Tab, you can analyze and organize Results in a variety of ways to make sense of them. You can export the Summary Tab to Excel for further manipulation.
Worksheet Tab
The Worksheet Tab allows you to apply Material, Labor, Equipment, Subs, and Other costs to your takeoff results to create a rough Unit Cost estimate. You can export the Worksheet Tabs to Excel or to On Center Software's Quick Bid Estimating application.
Common Questions
Q. Can I use ConstructConnect Takeoff on a touch-screen computer?
a. Possibly - performing takeoff is precision work, though, so finger-touch is not supported. Your computer (or monitor) must support 'active digitizing' with a precision-point stylus (one with a hard, small nib such as the one pictured below on the left).
If you are working in the field and simply want to view plans, check out ConstructConnect's mobile app in the App Store.
Q. Are there any keyboard shortcuts?
a. Many! See the next article for a list of the keyboard shortcuts! Shortcuts may be a bit different than those of other applications and the same key combinations can do different things, depending on what "has focus".
Q. Can I use ConstructConnect Takeoff on any computer?
a. Yes and No. Although your data and images are stored in our Cloud, the program itself is installed on your Windows computer. See System Requirements for more information.
ConstructConnect provides several non-Windows-based options for viewing plans and limited takeoff functionality. Please check out our website for details at www.constructconnect.com.
Q. Is this 'cloud' software?
a. Yes and No. Your data is stored in the cloud and can be accessed from any computer that meets our System Requirement. ConstructConnect Takeoff (the application used to access that data) must be installed on your Windows computer.
Q. Is an Internet connection required?
a. Absolutely - 100% of the time! Your PC must maintain a stable, high-speed Internet connection that is always on. Internet connection issues cause the program to stop working (crash) and you may lose data.
Q. How Fast Does My Internet Connection Need to Be?
a. Connection speed definitely affects performance. Your connection speeds may vary based on internet traffic and how many people are sharing your connection, so we cannot guarantee that any specific speed suits every customer's needs. Your unique situation dictates the bandwidth/speed you need - for some users, a 3MBps up/down connection is fine, for others, a 100MBps up/down connection may not be fast enough.
Get the fastest and most stable Internet connection you can to maximize performance.
Q. Can I save my data to my local computer and use it 'offline'?
a. No, your data is stored (at rest) on our cloud servers only, therefore you must remain connected to the Internet at all times.
We say "at rest" because as you are working, some data is stored on your local computer's hard drive to improve performance. For example, as you are drawing takeoff, to improve performance, the program does not immediately write every action to the cloud, changes are batched and then uploaded. Copies of your plans are download to your computer to make paging through them significantly faster.
Q. Who Can See My Projects?
a. Only people to whom your Organization's Admin grants access to your Organization's data can see your projects and bids. Going further, you can restrict other users in your Organization from accessing your projects, (for projects where you are "Project Owner"). This is covered in Setting Project Access Level for Users (Restricting What People Can Do In Your Project).
Settings and Help Menu
In the application, if you click on your name in the upper-right corner, you see the Settings and Help Menu, see the Previous Article for more information.
Notifications